538 PS7CH0L00Y. 



' dare-devil ' and ' mercurial ' temj^eraments, overflowing with 

 animation, and fizzling witli talk, which are so common in the 

 Latin and Celtic races, and with which the cold-blooded and 

 long-headed English character forms so marked a contrast. 

 Monkeys these people seem to us, whilst we seem to them 

 reptilian. It is quite impossible to judge, as between an ob- 

 structed and an explosive individual, which has the greatest 

 sum of vital energy. An explosive Italian with good per- 

 ception and intellect will cut a figure as a perfectly tre- 

 mendous fellow, on an inward capital that could be tucked 

 away inside of an obstructed Yankee and hardly let you 

 know that it was there. He will be the king of his company, 

 sing all the songs and make all the speeches, lead the parties, 

 carry out the practical jokes, kiss all the girls, fight the 

 men, and, if need be, lead the forlorn hopes and enterprises, 

 so that an onlooker w^ould think he has more life in his little 

 finger than can exist in the whole body of a correct judicious 

 fellow. But the judicious fellow all the while may have all 

 these possibilities and more besides, ready to break out in 

 the same or even a more violent way, if only the brakes 

 were taken ofi^. It is the absence of scruples, of conse- 

 quences, of considerations, the extraordinary simplification 

 of each moment's mental outlook, that gives to the explosive 

 individual such motor energy and ease ; it need not be the 

 greater intensity of any of his passions, motives, or thoughts. 

 As mental evolution goes on, the complexity of human con- 

 sciousness grows ever greater, and with it the multiplication 

 of the inhibitions to which every impulse is exposed. But 

 this predominance of inhibition has a bad as well as a good 

 side ; and if a man's impulses are in the main orderly as 

 well as prompt, if he has courage to accept their conse- 

 quences, and intellect to lead them to a successful end, he 

 is all the better for his hair-trigger organization, and for 

 not being ' sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.' 

 Many of the most successful military and revolutionary 

 characters in history have belonged to this simple but quick- 

 witted impulsive type. Problems come much harder to 

 reflective and inhibitive minds. They can, it is true, solve 

 much vaster problems ; and tliej' can avoid many a mis- 

 take to which the men of impulse are exposed. But when 



